Cissus sterculiifolia (F.Muell. ex Benth.) Planch.

Vitaceae

Planchon, J.E. in Candolle, A.L.P.P. de & Candolle, A.C.P. de (1887) Monographiae Phanerogamarum 5 : 519. 

Long-leaf Water Vine; Vine, Pomegranate; Long-leaved Grape; Vine, Long-leaf Water; Yaroong; Pomegranate Vine; Grape, Long-leaved

Vine stem diameters to 10 cm recorded.

Compound leaves digitately compound, usually with 3-5 leaflets. Leaflet blades about 8-17.5 x 3-8.5 cm, leaflet stalks about 0.5-3 cm long. Oil dots 'streaky', i.e. oblong or elongated, reddish, visible with a lens. Domatia are large hump-like foveoles with a small orifice. Stipules about 3-10 x 4 mm, each pair of stipules enveloping the terminal bud and falling as the bud expands. Tendrils simple (unbranched).

Flowers about 2 mm diam. Pedicels hairy. Calyx lobes hairy, about 0.1 mm long, margins laciniate. Petals glandular, about 1 mm long. Anthers about 0.1 mm long, filaments about 0.7 mm long. Disk about 0.1 mm high, margin lobed. Ovules two per locule.

Fruits ellipsoid, about 18-25 x 13-18 mm. Seeds about 16 x 9-10 mm. Embryo about 3.5-4 mm long. Radicle about 1-1.5 mm long. Cotyledons slightly wider and longer than the radicle.

Cotyledons about 39-45 x 20-25 mm, +/- 3-veined at the base, lateral veins forming loops inside the blade margin. First pair of leaves ovate, apex acute, base cuneate, margins with 2-5 teeth on each side. Stipules about 5 mm long. Leaves, stems and petioles sparsely clothed in medifixed hairs. At the tenth leaf stage: leaflet blades elliptic, apex acuminate, base attenuate. Margin with 2-5 serrate teeth on each side but mainly towards the apex. Midrib and lateral veins raised on the upper surface. Leaflets 2 or 3 per compound leaf. Foveoles large. Stipules caducous, about 11 mm long, +/- oblong, sheathing the terminal bud. Tendrils simple (unbranched) leaf-opposed, produced just after the tenth leaf. Seed germination time 71 days.

Occurs in NEQ, CEQ and southwards as far as south eastern New South Wales. Altitudinal range in NEQ from 400-1200 m. Grows in upland rain forest. Also occurs in New Guinea.

Fruit eaten by Fruit Pigeons. Cooper & Cooper (1994).

Vitis sterculiifolia F.Muell. ex Benth., Flora Australiensis 1: 450(1863), Type: NSW, Hastings River, Beckler; syn: MEL, K, BM. Cissus brachypoda (F.Muell.) Planch., Monographiae Phanerogamarum 5 : 520(1887). Vitis brachypoda F.Muell., Fragmenta Phytographiae Australiae 9: 125(1875), Type: In silvis densis udis prope Rockinghams Bay; Dallachy. Holo: MEL.